1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chassis connection apparatus in a television receiver or the like, which can be used when a chassis must be taken out of a housing during manufacturing/assembly and maintenance on the market.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the chassis structure of a television receiver has been usually divided into a front operation block in which operation sections for adjusting the volume of sound and selecting a channel are collected and a chassis frame on which a main circuit is mounted.
For this reason, in a manufacturing/assembling process, the front operation block is connected to a chassis frame by using a harness with a lead wire in terms of the circuit. As to the construction of the block and frame, they are connected to each other and made into one piece by using a chassis connection apparatus. To reduce the number of manufacturing/ assembling process steps, the front operation block, the chassis connection apparatus and the chassis frame are collectively installed in the housing. The front operation block is fixed to the housing by screws so that it will not move downward due to an external force which is applied thereto during front side of the receiver operations.
The construction of a conventional chassis connection apparatus will now be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.
In FIG. 4, reference numeral 1 denotes a chassis connection apparatus; reference numeral 2 denotes an engagement claw section for connecting a front operation block 5 to the chassis connection apparatus 1 by engaging the claw section 2 with a mounting engagement hole section 5a disposed on the front operation block 5; reference numeral 3 denotes an engagement shaft for connecting a chassis frame 6 to the chassis connection apparatus 1 by engaging the engagement shaft 3 with a mounting engagement section 6a disposed on the chassis frame 6; and reference numeral 4 denotes a guide section for engagement with a housing 7.
In FIG. 5, reference numeral 7 denotes a housing of a television receiver; reference numeral 7a denotes a boss, disposed on the housing 7, for mounting the front operation block 5; reference numeral 8 denotes an operation tray mounted on the front operation block 5; reference numeral 9 denotes an AV terminal mounted on the front operation block 5; and reference numerals 10 denote screws for mounting the front operation block 5.
The operation of the chassis connection apparatus, together with the chassis constructed by using it, constructed as described above will now be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.
The chassis connection apparatus 1 connects the front operation block 5 to the chassis frame 6 with a main circuit installed thereon by a method in which the engagement claw section 2 is engaged with the mounting engagement claw section 5a disposed on the front operation block 5, and in which the engagement shaft 3 is engaged with the mounting engagement hole 6a disposed on the chassis frame 6. The chassis connected as described above is fixed to the housing 7 by screws 10 so that it will not move downward due to an external force which is applied thereto during operations of the front operation block 5.
However, in the chassis connected as described above and the chassis connection apparatus which forms it, there is a problem in that the number of assembly steps at a factory is increased, i.e., the front operation block must be fixed by screws for preventing the front operation block from moving downward due to an external force applied thereto during the operations of the front operation block, and the front operation block must be removed when the chassis has to be taken out of the housing during maintenance or the like. There is another problem in that, since the front operation block and the chassis connection apparatus, and the chassis to which the chassis frame is connected, collectively, must be incorporated into the housing during assembling at a factory, it is difficult to handle the chassis when the chassis is encased in the housing.